Abstract

This study was undertaken in Meskan district of Southern Nations,
Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS) of Ethiopia to assess
communities’ perceptions regarding livestock feed resources, management and
utilization; to determine the herbaceous and woody vegetation composition,
biomass and browse production.

Livestock population increased in the upper altitude while it declined in
mid and lower altitudes because of shortage of grazing lands. In the mid and
lower altitudes, livestock are kept for traction (cattle only), milk
production, and cash income while the main purpose of keeping cattle, sheep
and goats in the upper altitude was mainly as a source of manure for Enset (Ensete
ventricosum) production which is quite contrary to the farming
practices of most highlands of Ethiopia where cattle are mainly reared for
traction purpose. Enset leaves and crop residues are the primary feed
sources in the upper and lower altitudes, respectively. In the mid altitude,
supplementary feed in the form of concentrate was more important than
pasture which is quite different from many parts of Ethiopia. The herbaceous
biomass varied between 426 to 1,519 kg/ha with forest areas, individually
protected grazing lands and benchmark areas having higher biomass than the
communally unprotected grazing areas. Though the browse biomass produced was
high (1,107 to 5,387 kg/ha), most of the browse species were unpalatable to
goats and other livestock species. We concluded that feed resources and
their management varied across the three altitudes and different approaches
are required to tackle the problem of feed shortage.

Introduction

Livestock is one of the fastest growing agricultural sub-sectors in
developing countries. Over the past 20 years, cereal, fish, meat and egg
productions in developing countries have increased by 78, 113, 127 and 331%,
respectively (Thornton 2010). This growth is driven by rapidly increasing
demand for livestock products, because of population growth, urbanization
and increasing incomes. The increase in livestock products in turn requires
an increase in different inputs for livestock production, mainly feed (Alemu
2008; Adugna et al 2012). Nevertheless, feed shortage in terms of quantity
and quality is still a major problem, and a major factor affecting the
development of viable livestock industries in developing countries like
Ethiopia (Sere et al 2008). Poor nutrition of ruminants will not only affect
animal performance, but also the immune system that will reduce animals’
ability to fight diseases (Alemu 2008). In order to introduce technologies
that will improve productivity and quality of feeds in the study area, there
is a need to document the available feed resources, their potential and the
perceptions of farmers regarding the available feed resources. Thus, we
assessed communities’ perceptions regarding livestock feed resources,
management and utilization and determined herbaceous and woody vegetation
composition, biomass and browse production as such information which are
very crucial are non-available in the study area.

Materials and methods

Description of the study area

Meskan district is located in Gurge zone of SNNPRS. The land area is 50,177
ha, of which 29,012 ha is cultivated land with annual crops occupying 17,817
ha and perennial crops 11,195 ha. Grazing land, forest, and others occupy
6.8, 11.5 and 23.9%, respectively (CSA 2015). The crops grown are maize,
sorghum, wheat, barely, teff, bean, pea and haricot bean. The altitude
ranges from 1,840 to 3,200 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.) and the main
rain is from July to September while the short rain from March to April. The
mean annual rainfall varies from 900 to 1,400 mm per year .
The human population of Meskan district is 180,239 (88,499 males and 91,740
females) with a population density of 404 persons/km2. There are
about 94,600 cattle; 20,625 goats; 38,680 sheep; 11, 452 equine and 72,348
poultry (CSA 2012).

Community perceptions about livestock feed resources production,
utilization, and management

For the community perception study, the district was stratified into three
altitude zones as farming systems and mode of life vary across altitude
zones (ILCA 1990; Holechek et al 2014). Thus, the district was stratified
into >2,500 (upper), 2,000 to 2,500 (mid) and < 2,000 m.a.s.l (lower)
altitude zones. Discussion with district agricultural experts and
knowledgeable people about the area, focus group discussions (FGDs),
observations by the study team and secondary source of information were used
to elicit pertinent data to learn about livestock holding, feed resources
production, management and utilization. There were about 36 rural kebeles
(lowest administrative units) in the district. Three FGDs were undertaken
one in each altitude zone using checklist and the participants from both
sexes were 8 (upper), 12 (mid) and 10 (lower). One FGD was undertaken within
each altitude zone because of the similarity of the farming system within a
given altitude zone despite the number of kebeles in each altitude zone as
observed from secondary information and discussion with agricultural experts
and knowledgeable people about the area. Furthermore, efforts were made to
include representatives from the different kebeles within a given altitude
zone. The education level of the members of the FGDs varied from illiterate
to high school graduates and age ranged from 21 to 60 years old.

Vegetation study

Site selection and field layout

Discussions were held with community members, elders, and district
agricultural office experts about the nature, types and distribution of the
grazing lands. A reconnaissance survey was undertaken by the research team
which consisted of 5 researchers to observe the nature and distribution of
the vegetation types and identification of grazing types. Forestlands are
areas designated as forest area but are also the sources of feed mainly
through cut and carry system and light grazing. Communally unprotected (CUP)
grazing lands are small or large in size where management is not applied to
improve their condition and are grazed throughout the year. The individually
protected (IP) grazing lands are not grazed during the main growing season
so that plants are given time to recover and are used mainly for the
production of hay. The number of sites (28) was determined based on
proportional areas of the different grazing types within each altitude zone
(Table 1).

Table 1.
Number of sites for vegetation survey in Meskan
district by grazing types and altitudes

Grazing types

Altitude range (m.a.s.l)

2000

2000-2500

>2500

Communally unprotected (CUP)

2

2

2

Individually protected (IP)

2

4

4

Forestland (FL)

-

6

3

Benchmark (BM)

1

1

1

At each site, 3 sampling sites were identified and in grazing areas with
woody vegetation, a plot of 10 x 10 m was laid out randomly to accommodate
herbaceous and woody layers. Sampling was done from October to December at
the time when most of the plants were at 50% flowering, which made
identification of plants easy. Identification of plants was done at field
level and for those not identified easily at field level; voutcher specimens
were collected, pressed, dried and transported to Adami Tulu Agricultural
Research Center for identification. Nomenclature of plant species followed
the Flora of Ethiopia (Hedberg and Edwards 1995).

Herbaceous species composition and biomass

At each sample site, the species composition was assessed using a wheel
point apparatus based on the frequency of occurrence as described by
Tidmarsh and Havenga (1955). If no herbaceous species occur within the given
radius of the point, it was recorded as “bare ground”. Bare ground was
treated as if it is a plant species and gave an indication of plant density
(Mentis 1984) which is also an important additional parameter for recording
real changes in grazing condition (Danckwerts and Teague 1989). The
identified species were classified into highly palatable, palatable, less
palatable and unpalatable based of the view of the group discussants and
literatures (Abule et al 2007). At each sample site, the herbaceous
vegetation was harvested at the ground level from 4 randomly placed
quadrates, each 0.5 m x 0.5 m area to assess the dry matter biomass. The
samples were oven-dried at 105ºC for 24 hours and each sample was weighed
and recorded (AOAC 1990).

Woody vegetation cover

All rooted live woody plants in the 10 x 10 m plots, regardless of being
single-stemmed or multi-stemmed, were counted to estimate woody vegetation
density per hectare. Furthermore, the spatial canopy volumes of all rooted
live woody plants encountered in the plots were measured at peak biomass.
The measurements were: maximum height, height where the maximum canopy
diameter occurs, height of first leaves or potential leaf-bearing stems,
maximum canopy diameter, and base diameter of the foliage at the height of
the first leaves. For measurement of canopy dimensions, calibrated poles of
appropriate size were used. Dimensions of those woody plants too tall to
measure with poles were taken using a dimension meter (Smit 1994). The
palatability of each of the woody plant to goats was recorded through group
discussions with the community and referring literature (Bekele 1993).

Statistical Analysis

The frequency of each herbaceous species, including that of bare ground was
calculated using percentages. Mean and standard deviations were also
calculated for the herbaceous biomass by altitude and grazing types. In
addition to density data (plants ha-1), leaf volume and leaf dry
mass estimates were calculated from the measurements taken above, using a
modified version of the quantitative description technique of (Smit a,b
1989) as described by Smit (1994, 1996). This technique provides an estimate
of leaf volume and leaf dry mass at peak biomass, based on the relationship
between the tree’s special canopy volume and its leaf volume and leaf mass.
This technique was compiled with the BECVOL-model (Biomass Estimates from
Canopy Volume, (Smit 1994, 1996) and it incorporates regression equations,
developed from harvested trees, which relates special canopy volume
(independent variable) to leaf volume and leaf dry mass (dependent
variables). The special tree canopy volume (x) was transformed to its normal
logarithmic value while (y) represents the estimated leaf dry mass. In
addition to the total leaf DM ha-1, stratified estimates of the
leaf DM ha-1 below 1.5 and 5.0 m, respectively, were also
calculated, using the BECVOL-model (Smit 1994). The height of 1.5m
represents the mean browsing height of goats (Aucamp 1976) and 5m height for
giraffe (Wentzel 1990). These browsing heights are mean heights and not
maximum browsing heights, which were only used to draw comparisons. Breaking
off branches may enable some browsers to utilize browse at higher strata.

Results

Community perceptions about livestock feed resources, management and
utilization

According to the opinion of the discussants, in the upper altitude, the
number of cattle, sheep and goats has progressively increased because of the
need of their manure as a source of fertilizer for Enset production but in
the mid and lower altitudes, the number has declined because of shortage of
grazing land, frequent disease outbreaks and change in the attitude of the
communities towards sending children to school than livestock herding which
has created labor shortage. In the mid altitude, goats are almost
non-existent. In addition, in the mid and lower altitudes, cattle are kept
for traction followed by milk production. Sheep and goats are reared for
sale and in few instances for milking. In the upper altitude, cattle, sheep
and goats are reared mainly to be the source of manure for Enset production
as the possibility of using commercial fertilizer for Enset seems to be
far-fetched. The major constraints to livestock production were feed
shortage (all altitude zones); disease ranked second in mid and low
altitudes, lack of knowledge and skill in improved husbandry was the second
in upper altitude.

In the upper altitude, the primary feed source is Enset leaves which is fed
to animals throughout the year. Hay is second to Enset leaves as feed
source, which is followed by grazing. According to the view of the group
discussants, there are two usage types of grazing lands, i.e., communally
owned and privately owned usages with different management practices. The
communal grazing areas are used communally and animals have free access to
them. In most instances, private grazing lands (PGLs) are not allowed to be
grazed during the main rainy season (July to September) although few farmers
harvest, use cut and carry system. However, during the dry season, animals
are allowed to graze on the PGLs. Depending on the size, PGLS are divided
into two parts where part of it could be used for hay production and the
remaining part used for rotational grazing where the land is grazed piece by
piece, and then left to recover, and another piece of land grazed and so on.
Hay is cured, collected and stored properly in a separate house by only
about 20% of the households. Crop residues when available will be fed to
animals in January and February and farmers having hay will feed their
animals from March to June.

In the lower altitude, crop residues are the main sources of feed (residues
of maize, teff straw and haricot bean straw). Natural pasture, hay, wheat
bran, noug cake and the stems of papaya also contribute to livestock feed.
According to the group discussants, stem of papaya whose fruit yield is
reduced too much is chopped and fed to oxen by about 70 % of the households.
The practice of mixing different types of feeds is common. For instance,
crop residues are mixed with weeds, haricot bean with wheat straw and weed;
wheat straw with wheat bran and water. Animals will feed on crop aftermath
in November and December and after this period they will be shifted to
conserved feed. Animals will graze on the natural pasture in May and June.
When it is available, improved forage will be fed after February. The
feeding of crop residues will start in January and will possibly extend to
June.

Crop residues are important feed sources followed by Enset in the mid
altitude. Enset is usually considered as a bridging feed and is often used
when other feeds are depleted. It is interesting to note that supplementary
feed in the form of concentrate is more important than pasture which is
quite different from many parts of Ethiopia. In the altitude zone, 70% of
the households use wheat bran, while 50% of the households use oilseed cakes
for supplementing animals. This is primarily due to availability of
agro-industrial by products in Butajira town located in this altitude. In
most cases, crop residues are not fed alone and they are chopped and mixed
with wheat bran or chopped and fed with Enset leaves. The main problems
associated in the utilization of crop residues are storage and
transportation. Regarding crop residues storage, about 20% of the households
have separately built structure, some keep by piling up in the open field or
near to a homestead which will expose the feed to spoilage. Participants are
aware of methods that could be employed to improve the feeding value of crop
residues notably ammoniation. Improved forages like Napier grass, Sesbania
and Leaucenia, are being introduced in recent years. Crop residues, Enset,
and grazing are the sources of feed from January to June, November to
January and January to June, respectively. The critical months of feed
shortage are from March to July.

In general, some of the solutions suggested by group discussants to tackle
feed shortage include proper storage of crop residues (mid and low
altitudes), harvesting natural pasture at the right stage of growth for hay
making (high latitude), use of adapted improved forages and introduction of
suitable leguminous fodder tree to be the source of nitrogen to the Enset
plant.

Herbaceous species composition and biomass

In the mid altitude, the most dominant herbaceous species in the
individually protected grazing lands, benchmark areas, forestlands and
communally unprotected grazing lands were Bothrochloa insculpta,B.
insculpta, Hyperhenia hirta, and Cynodon dactylon,
respectively. The percentage bare ground was about 3.1% in IPs and 5.9% in
CUPs (Table 2). In the upper altitude, the most common herbaceous species in
the benchmarks, forestlands, IPs, and CUPs were Heteropogon contrortus,
Pennisetum stramineum, Andropogon, and C. dactylon,
respectively. In the IPs, CUPs, and benchmarks of the lower altitude,
Hyparrhenia hirta, C. dactylon and Hyparrhenia species
dominate the herbaceous layer. Of the total herbaceous species identified in
the study area, 75.7% were perennials while 24.5% were annuals (Table 2).

Table 2.
Herbaceous species composition of the different grazing
types in the three altitude zones of the study district
(%)

The herbaceous biomass of the CUPs in the three altitude zones was similar
and very low. The herbaceous biomass production was higher in FL, IPGL and
BM (1,248 to 1,648 kg/ha) than in the CUPs (467.7 kg/ha) (Table 3).

Table 3.
Herbaceous biomass production (kg/ha) of the different
grazing types in the different altitude zones

Altitude zone

Grazing types

CommunalUnprotected

Forestland

IndividuallyProtected

Benchmark

2000

482 ± 24

-

1249 ± 78

1286 ± 0

2000-2500

496 ± 00

1448 ± 60

1302 ± 60

1648 ± 73

2500

426 ± 12

1519 ± 54

1267 ± 70

1718± 60

Woody vegetation composition, density and browse biomass

In the upper altitude, the highest density of woody vegetation was recorded
by Guniperus procera (429 plants/ha), Lanthana camara
(357 plants/ha) and Erica arborea (314 plants/ha) (Table 4). Of the
total amount of browse produced in the upper altitude, 502, 283, 1417 and
3285 kg/ha were produced up to the height of 1.5 m, between 1.5 to 2 m,
between 2 and 5 m and greater than 5 m, respectively. The highest amount of
leaf biomass was produced by Dononaea viscose (2022 kg/ha) followed
by Guniperus procera (1,148 kg/ha). Unfortunately, most of the
browse species are unpalatable to goats and most of the browse produced is
beyond the reach of goats. In the mid altitude, Eucalyptus
species (770 plants/ha) and Acacia seyal (310 plants/ha) were the
most abundant species in terms of density. The highest leaf biomass was
produced by Eucalyptus species(1107 kg/ha) (unpalatable
for goats), followed by Acacia seyal (674 kg/ha) and Acacia
tortilis (270 kg/ha). The latter two species are highly palatable to
goats. The total leaf biomass produced was 2,308 kg/ha of which only 146
kg/ha was found up to the height of 1.5 m.

Table 4.
Woody species, density and leaf biomass in the Meskan
district

Altitude

Grazing type

Species

Density/ha

Total leaf biomass (kg/ha)

Up to 1.5 m

Up to 5 m

Palatability for goats

2550

FL

Acacia seyal

14

7

1

7

HP

Rhus natalensis

57

398

71

398

HP

Eucalyptus camaldulensis

243

283

20

108

Unpalatable

Erica arborea

385

204

64

86

LP

Guniperus procera

429

1148

27

590

Unpalatable

Lanthana camara

357

279

113

279

Unpalatable

Polyscias ferruginea

114

154

11

154

LP

Securinega virosa

271

427

39

106

LP

Vernonia cinerascens

143

178

143

178

Unpalatable

Dodonaea viscose

57

2022

2

84

Unpalatable

Durant repens

71

194

2

19

HP

Hagenia abyssinica

14

86

5

86

Unpalatable

Olea Africana

14

7

2

7

LP

heeria reticulala

14

2

2

2

LP

Totals

2186

5387

502

2102

2000-2500

FL

Acacia tortilis

40

270

4

48

HP

Acacia seyal

310

674

19

148

HP

Acacia saligna

80

23

17

23

HP

Sesbania sesban

60

9

5

9

HP

Croton macrostachys

20

42

1

42

Unpalatable

Eucalyptus globulus

770

1107

92

602

Unpalatable

Vernonia auriculifera

80

6

6

6

Unpalatable

Guniperus procera

40

174

1

34

Unpalatable

Calpurnia subdecandra

10

2

2

2

Unpalatable

Totals

1410

2308

146

915

FL= Forest land

Discussion

To increase the role of livestock in poverty alleviation in the region
through adequate livestock feeding, farmers' knowledge and perceptions about
livestock feed resources, utilization and management and determination of
the species composition and biomass of the natural pasture should first be
sought, especially in the midst of rapidly changing ecological, social and
cultural conditions. Thus, this study has generated a wealth of information
about the feed resources which will be invaluable in developing sustainable
feed production strategies for use by farmers. The shortage of livestock
feed, frequent disease outbreaks, and the change in the altitude of the
communities towards sending more children to school than livestock herding
creating labor shortage concurs with the findings of Hasen et al (2010) from
other parts of Ethiopia. The absence of goats in the mid altitude is mainly
attributed to the re-distribution of the previous communal grazing areas
allotted to each of the peasant associations (lowest administrative units)
among the youth for crop production which is also quite common in many other
parts of Ethiopia (Helland 2006). The purpose of keeping cattle, sheep and
goats in the upper altitude mainly as a source of manure for Enset
production is quite contrary to the farming practices of most highlands of
Ethiopia where cattle are mainly reared for traction purpose (Adugna et al
2012). Enset (Ensete ventricosum), also known as ‘false banana’, is
Ethiopia's most important
root crop,
a traditional staple in the densely populated south and southwestern parts
of Ethiopia. It is a perennial herbaceous monocarpic plant, grown for human
consumption and animal feed (Temesgen et al 2014). In general, the livestock
production constraints and the solutions suggested by the group discussants
are within the general frame of the livestock production system in Ethiopia
(Getinet 1999; Alemayehu 2004) and other developing countries (Sere et al
2008).

The usage types of grazing lands, i.e., communal and private and their
system of utilization is a well-established grazing land management
practices of the communities which is also exercised to a limited extent in
the central highlands of Ethiopia (Hassen et al 2010). Because of the lack
of attention to properly manage the communal grazing lands by the
communities, they are overgrazed and degraded which is similar with the poor
condition of the communal grazing lands in Ethiopia (PADS 2004).

As the expansion of crop land increases, the availability of grazing land
decreases thus limiting the scope for increased livestock production. Under
such circumstances, crop residue alone or in combination with other feeds
play an important role in supplying feed to ruminant animals (Tesfaye and
Chairatanayuth 2007) which is also the case in the middle and lower
altitudes of the study area. The least importance of crop residues as
livestock feed in the upper altitude of the study district is contrary to
the situation in many highland areas of Ethiopia where livestock are mainly
dependent on crop residue as a source of feed (Getnet 1999; Alemayehu 2004).

According to Van Oudtshoom (1999), B. insculpta is an average grazing grass.
Although it has a good leaf production, the aromatic taste deters animals
and this might be the reason for the high percentage of B. insculpta in IPGL
and benchmark areas. The abundance of C. dactylon in CUP grazing
areas was related to its tolerance of heavy grazing pressure and this is in
line with the findings of Amsalu and Baars (2002). Heteropogon contortus
is only palatable at the early stage, after which it becomes hard and less
acceptable for grazing. Similarly, H. hirta is grazed by livestock
early in the growing season and it becomes less acceptable for grazing
later. As seen from the results, the percentage bare ground increased with
an increase in grazing pressure which is also seen from the study of Admasu
et al (2010). The higher biomass in the enclosures, benchmarks and forest
lands than in the CUPs is similar to the case reported by Amsalu and Baars
(2002) from other part of Ethiopia. Hence, excluding grazing provides the
opportunity for the plants to grow better and have a better basal cover.
However, high biomass does not necessarily mean high vegetation quality
(i.e., nutrients) – grazing lawns (Tainton 1999). The perennial herbaceous
species are better indicators of the ecological status of an area compared
to annual herbaceous species and the lower abundance of the annual grass
species in the study area could be due to the reaction of annual grasses to
small changes in rainfall and grazing pressure (Van Rooysen et al 1991). The
low biomass in the CUPs might be due to the high grazing pressure, although
we were unable to quantify the stocking rate under field conditions.

According to Bekele (1993), G. procera, L. camara and
E. arborea are commonly found in the highlands of Ethiopia although their
density is sharply declining. Ddetermination of browse production for stock
usage is very important. However, as most of the browse species are unpalatable
to animals and beyond the reach of goats, it is essential to plant multi-purpose
trees. The unpalatability of G. procera, L. camara,E.
arborea,D. viscose, and Eucalyptus and the high
palatability ofA. seyal, R. natalensis, D. repens,A.
tortilis, A. seyal, A. saligna and S. sesban
is well documented in literatures (Le Houe´rou 1980; Smit 1994; Kaitho 1997).

Conclusions

The study has shown that feed resources and their management varied across
the three altitudes.

The studies revealed that the communally unprotected grazing lands have
deteriorated and need improvement. Furthermore, their size is diminishing
from time to time requiring the development of alternative feed resources
and improving the utilization of the available feeds through different
methods (treatment of crop residues, forage development, proper conservation
and etc).

Training of the communities and development agents on proper production,
utilization and conservation of feed resources is necessary.

Private grazing lands in all altitudinal zones were found to be important
sites for introduction of improved forages species.

Full participation of farmers, government and non-governmental
organizations that might be directly or indirectly involved in grazing land
utilization, management, and conservationare imperative
and this is a need for proper land use planning.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Ethiopian Sheep and Goat productivity improvement
project for financing the study through the USAID grant and the communities
and other stakeholders for providing us with valuable information.

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